$50M In Counterfeit Vintage Consoles and Videogames Seized From Italian Crime Ring (bbc.com) 30
Police in Italy "smashed" a videogame trafficking ring, reports the BBC. They seized fake vintage Nintendo, Sega and Atari consoles that didn't meet strict safety standards, as well as counterfeit games — including Mario Bros., Street Fighter and Star Wars — that together were worth almost €50m ($55.5m)
Around 12,000 consoles holding over 47 million pirated video games were seized by police, Alessandro Langella, head of the economic crime unit for Turin's financial police, told the AFP news agency... They were "all from China" and were imported to be sold in specialised shops or online, Mr Langella said...
The seized games have been destroyed. Nine Italian nationals have been arrested and charged with trading in counterfeited goods. If found guilty, they face up to eight years in prison.
The seized games have been destroyed. Nine Italian nationals have been arrested and charged with trading in counterfeited goods. If found guilty, they face up to eight years in prison.
The cosa nostra must be desperate (Score:2)
Re: The cosa nostra must be desperate (Score:1)
Probably. The Cuomo crime family went into politics and journalism until they got busted.
Re: (Score:3)
Whatsamatta for you, cosa nostra, traditional criminal activites (drugs, prostitution rings, loan sharking, casinos, etc) not profitable anymore or something?
Mario doesn't play.
of course, reported by one outside of gamers (Score:5, Insightful)
"Ruth Comerford" reporting for the BBC.
Exactly how bad at math do you have to be to believe the authorities pretend estimates of value "12,000 consoles" holding "47 million games".
So that's 4,000 games per console and now for the comedy line:
The haul had an estimated value of €47.5m, Mr Langella said, a figure which includes the value of the consoles and hundreds of licenses for the pirated programs.
that puts the license at1 euro per game
Reported dutifully by a non-gamer.
Re: (Score:3)
They are trying to make the seizure of 12,000 Raspberry Pis with a big Micro SD card sound like a big deal.
I bet no one was more surprised about the $47.5M valuation of the consoles than the folks that designed, built, imported, and hoped to sell them!
I wonder what the smugglers hoped to actually sell the consoles for in Italy?
Question to ask (Score:2)
How much do you estimate it costs a person in China to build one of the consoles?
Happy to hear all other forms of crime in Italy (Score:2)
Re: Happy to hear all other forms of crime in Ital (Score:4, Interesting)
fraud is fraud. It is not like every police officers all look at one type of crime and when it's all out they look at the next one.
Most likely you are looking for strange imports. And then once you confirm the product being inported you've done most of the work So might as well do the bust.
this isn't fraud (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well you either have laws or you don't. Note that the evil perps could face up to 8 years in prison as a worst-case sentence. Over in The Land Of the Free, they'd be looking at 20 years minimum for ruffling Nintendo's feathers
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Happy to hear all other forms of crime in Ita (Score:2)
Possibly. Though this is not in the US but in Italy.
Murder investigator are typically not the same people as counterfeit investigators. They certainly work in different branches of law enforcement. Italy produces lots of luxury goods So the country has vested interest in having a counterfeit chasing unit.
There could be 3000 investigators in the murder unit and 50 in the counterfeit unit for all I know. And even with such lobsided teams, you would still see stories like this one.
I do not understand that thi
Re: Happy to hear all other forms of crime in Ital (Score:2)
I really doubt that. I was talking to a guy who lives in southern Italy who says the mafiosos still run that part of the country, up to and including paying off the police to look the other way.
Re: Happy to hear all other forms of crime in Ita (Score:3)
Or, like my friend from Napels puts it: "govt or maffia, boils down to the same thing: they take half your money in return for security."
4000-in-1 cartridges are not sold for 4000 euro. (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone in Italy couldn't do the math.
You can get such retro consoles for 25 euros (including shipping) on Aliexpress.
That is 12.000 x 25 euro = 0.3 million euro.
Re: (Score:2)
Someone in Italy couldn't do the math.
You can get such retro consoles for 25 euros (including shipping) on Aliexpress.
That is 12.000 x 25 euro = 0.3 million euro.
I guess they used the same scale they use for drug busts. It looks similar to me anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
The police included the value of the software as if they had to legally license each game on each machine.
The haul had an estimated value of €47.5m, Mr Langella said, a figure which includes the value of the consoles and hundreds of licenses for the pirated programs.
Re:4000-in-1 cartridges are not sold for 4000 euro (Score:5, Interesting)
It's copyright lawyer maths. Everything is valued at the full original retail price.
Reminds me of that time when the RIAA tried to claim the maximum legal penalty per copyright infringement, which I think was in the range of $125,000 at the time. The total came to more than the value of everything on Earth.
New legal rate. (Score:2)
It's copyright lawyer maths. Everything is valued at the full original retail price.
New legal consulting rate for all IT services should be $2K/hour. Global standard.
See how that world likes “full” retail pricing.
Alas (Score:1)
Thankfully, they weren't doing this to protect US/Japan monopolies on software but to make all crime less profitable. Alas, there isn't a difference.
Re: (Score:3)
Monopoly on software? That's a new one.
counterfeit? (Score:2)
What is a "counterfeit Mario Bross"? I bet they mean by that a copy of the original game, when counterfeit would be a game made by someone else, while copying the name and the look of the original.
Re: (Score:2)
This is probably just scammers trying to ride the nostalgia wave that hit maybe 5 or so years ago coinciding with the rerelease of classic consoles. It shouldn't be a surprised about people collecting semi rare things from their childhood. Its not just art. You can go on ebay and find all sorts of toys, hobbie
Retro doesn't have to mean bad construction. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Who knows? They didn't tell us the specifics, so it could just be use of a logo without permission.
Original crime (Score:3)
Nintendo got famous with a stereotypical character from Italy. Without the permission and approval of the Italian people.